Tate Talk™ #7: How to structure an annotation

What’s Tate Talk™, you ask? It’s a weekly series where we can all come together to talk about annotations, so we can learn and improve our tatesmanship! Check out last week’s installment on Updating old annotations with new information. Sign up to write your own Tate Talk™ here.

I’m going to do something a little different this week, because I believe annotations are always evolving, and there’s no “set” way to create an annotation. But I think there’s a few loose guidelines when creating an annotation to ensure it is visually pleasing, and digestible. None of these are rules btw, and everything I say is up for debate :)

I’ll focus on the order in which you address the meaning of the line, images, embedding links, and tweets/instagram posts.

The Order of an Annotation

I read something recently that @Vesuvius wrote about first presenting your research (links for example) that back up your interpretation, then placing the interpretation underneath. Personally, on rap music, I like to get straight to what the line means, and then use the rest of the annotation to back up my assertion. This isn’t a rule, and it certainly isn’t always applicable. For example, on the new Andre feature “Solo (Reprise)”, it’s necessary to define key terms before explaining what they mean, otherwise the annotation wouldn’t read well.

There’s terms in here a normal user might not be familiar with, so it’s important to define “Solo cup,” “rojo” and “cholo” before we can proceed. Saying “Red cups are often used at parties to carry alcohol. After Andre’s dark beginning to this verse, he may be saying alcohol is his only (solo) friend” before defining those terms makes no sense.

Here’s an example of how I would normally approach an annotation on a less in-depth artist.

André is so low (so-lo) that he has no more high hopes or happy thoughts (high horses).

Bang, the meaning of the line is immediately dealt with. The TL;DR generation have now switched off. For the rest of us, we can learn about the wordplay going on, and find even deeper meaning in the line.

To summarise, if the meaning of the line is hidden behind unfamiliar terms, a deep metaphor, or any type of complicated literary technique, explain that first, then the meaning. If you’re annotating Desiigner and he says “I got broads in Atlanta, twistin' dope lean and the fanta” you can go ahead and say “Desiigner lives a lavish lifestyle,” then describe why that is the case, based on his lyrics.

Images

Let’s go back to this example:

The two images makes the annotation difficult to read and very clunky. Rarely would you use two images in an annotation, unless it’s incredibly in-depth and both images are essential. For example, a before and after shot of something, or a comparison. Here’s an example of where it works:

Notice we’re comparing The Joker with Ty Dolla $ign.

I’d usually like an image to be at the bottom of an annotation too, otherwise it breaks up the text and makes it even less likely someone is going to read the entire annotation. Occasionally we need to introduce an image mid-tate, then explain it below. Or, if we’re annotating separate thoughts or ideas. For example:

It was important to immediately address the meaning of the line, and using an image is perfect after that introduction as it really gives background to the meaning. After the image, we can add the excess information, and the TL;DR crowd is satisfied :)

Do you always need an image? Absolutely not. If you check my page (and I am not saying I am a shining example btw), I rarely use images. It’s essential your image means something. If a pop artist is singing about love, don’t add a random picture of a heart at the bottom. It really adds nothing. If the annotation is so simplistic that a generic image is needed to make it appear more interesting, ask yourself if the line even needs to be annotated.

It’s also important to change your image game up. Searching Google Images for “Drake car” has been done hundreds of times. Why not jump on his instagram? Search Twitter for “Drake car”. Change your search terms up, “Drake maserati instagram,” “Jay Z Italian sports car,” “Rick Ross vacation Mercedes.” Instagram is such a beautiful resource, and it’s also kind of fun going back through an artists entire catalogue of photos. I did it for Tyga looking for pics of him eating and it was enlightening!

Takeaway: Most often only use one image per annotation, place the image below the text, and images aren’t always necessary.

Embedding Tweets/Instagram posts

This can get tricky. How many tweets do you embed? Should you imbed an Instagram post, or take a screen shot and use imgur to simply upload the image?

It depends. For example, on this annotation from the new Jhene Aiko track, the conflict referred to occurred almost exclusively on Twitter, but there were 5 or 6 important tweets, so rather than embed them all, I simply linked to a news article that had the entire Twitter back and forth on the page. I also linked to an individual tweet so as not to clog the tate up. I’d keep it to 3 tweets embedded per tate. If there’s more, link them in-text.

Sometimes a single tweet is essential on a tate, For example this on “Famous”:

The video embedded in the tweet has incredible info. But notice below that, Swift’s response isn’t an embedded Instagram post, it’s simply a screen shot of it. I believe this is the best way to go for Instagram posts. They can take a long time to load, and if there’s a long caption it can make the image too small to see properly. My advice would be in 99% of cases, screen shot an instagram post and upload the image via imgur.

In terms of embedding links, especially lyrics, it’s always better to quote them in-text imo. It looks much cleaner.

To Summarise:

Try and present your interpretation first, then use links to back it up.

Try and stick to one image per tate, and at the bottom of the annotation

Embed no more than 3 tweets unless necessary, and screen shot Instagram posts rather than embedding them. Link to articles and lyrics in text.

Now, that’s my opinion. What is yours? I don’t want this to be a “I am telling you this is how to do it” thread, I’d love to hear your thoughts and how this could be improved! Gonna tag some dope taters

Lovely read, clear and sensible and thought-provoking. Might have some thoughts to add later but just wanted to point out @Theonlydjorkaeff that I’m pretty sure you meant to tag this @niiicola , three i’s not two :)

Awesome Tate Talk as always @Theonlydjorkaeff ! Just want emphasize and expand some points made on the OP.

The two images makes the annotation difficult to read and very clunky. Rarely would you use two images in an annotation, unless it’s incredibly in-depth and both images are essential. For example, a before and after shot of something, or a comparison.

If you are using 2 images for a comparison or a before-and-after shot, it’s highly recommended to put the two images as a “collage” of sorts to only use one image instead of two. Examples include this image on the “Real Friends” song bio and this tate on “Nikes”:

Place the image below the text, and images aren’t always necessary.

It looks bad to place the image at the beginning of the annotation before the text. Why? First, you are presenting the reader an image without context. You can’t expect them to keep reading if they don’t understand the first thing they see. And even if the image explains well the tate, it really makes the tate look clunky. Second, most of our readers come from mobile. I’ve said before that images and embedded tweets or post take a while to load on the app and I think this is true for the mobile page as well. Therefore, people are waiting on the image to load so they can start reading when they can actually start reading the tate right away if the text is first while the image is loading and when they reach to the bottom, the image is loaded!

The only time I would allow an embedded tweet/post or image at the beginning is if it adds explanation by the artist, kinda like a verified annotation. Example being this annotation I made on “Same Drugs”:

Here I used Chance’s tweet at the beginning for two reasons:

It makes the TL;DR crowd know from the get-go that this song is about something more than just drugs and the one telling them isn’t just some guy on the internet, but the actual artist.

It adds verified commentary to the tate and adds value to the interpretation I’m talking about.

To build on a point you made, when embedding important media, like taylor’s tweets about kanye or vice versa, I recommend linking a screenshot, because those tweets might be taken down and the annotation will lose a valuable context/source.

I just came across Tate Talk today (I need to be a bit more into the forums, I know). But I love this whole idea and particularly, I’m loving @Theonlydjorkaeff analysis of structure here.

I absolutely agree that images shouldn’t be used unless they serve a purpose. I see a lot of unnecessary images that actually take away from the annotation.

One thing I wanted to bring up though:

I’d usually like an image to be at the bottom of an annotation too, otherwise it breaks up the text and makes it even less likely someone is going to read the entire annotation.

I agree for the most part, but if the picture needs a short explanation, I believe there is a great way to get around this: After the image code, type out your explanation, but make it look like a caption:

Something like this

Here’s an example of one I did:

Let me know if you have any thought of course :) And I don’t know why it’s not showing the entire tate here…

Hey there, interesting thread with a lot of useful information. I’m focusing myself on annotation with a picture because that’s what I was working on today.

I started this annotation because on the next line someone stated that the author was expecting his girlfriend to meet him at the airport, which was not the case.

To try to transmit the idea of lenght, both in distance and time, I used an animated gif. I believe it also gives a better idea that the band travelled mostly by car. I find animated gifs distractive, but I felt that just writting down tour highlights was really dull and doing it visually would transmit the information faster. I still kept the written info on a paragraph after the picture, in case someone wants more details, and punctuated it with links to rare photos/videos/blogs to make it juicier to those interested in reading that far.

Unlike @AlexTR I put my explanation of the picture before it, because I find it important for its understanding (and because I doubt most people will read after the picture.)

Due to the restrictions of doing an animated gif, and it’s size and loop, I don’t know if the picture or it’s explanation are very clear.
What should I change here to have a better structured annotation and make it work with the picture?

@Wapunguissa I can definitely see your point there. With the annotation you just posted, I agree that your way works better (nice tate btw, I’m about to accept it right now!), I think that it depends on the annotation I suppose. The tate you posted really relies heavily on the image, whereas mine sort of just gives an example of what I’m talking about. Two different kinds of annotations, so it only makes sense that each one would benefit from two approaches.

To further illustrate what I mean, sometimes a picture of a group of people will be posted, in which case a caption would be more appropriate…here’s another example of this (another Royce tate):

@AlexTR Thanks! But even if I did it differently, I still based my annotation on what I was reading here. It’s good to see examples that can serve as reference because I agree with you: it’ll depend on the purpose of the tate, and by understanding why those choices were made, we can make our own. I still agree that in most cases it’s better to have the pictures at the bottom and not use more than one.

I hadn’t yet though about captations, but I find it quite useful in the example you posted. How do you make the letters smaller that the regular writing?

@Wapunguissa Yeah, I understand what you’re doing, and your tates look great! I just went over some of your stuff and you’re a solid contributor, it’s good to have people like you here :). To make something smaller, I put the word, small, in brackets like these . In order for the caption to be centered with the picture, I put the word, center, in the same brackets. Do this before the words you wish to appear that way. Then after you type it out, do the same thing but type /small and /center in those brackets.

There may be other ways to format, I just prefer using HTML formatting. I actually think I may be one of the few who uses html here. For instance, I don’t use the * symbol for anything. Instead I put B in brackets and then /B for bold and I and then /I for italics

@AlexTR Thank you for the explanation! That was actually quite usefull because I understand basic HTML but I didn’t know I could use it here. It’s good for giving some emphasis from time to time. Thanks for revising those tates: I’ve noticed the changes and I’m learning from those too.

when embedding important media, like taylor’s tweets about kanye or vice versa, I recommend linking a screenshot, because those tweets might be taken down and the annotation will lose a valuable context/source.

So true I didn’t even think of that! I think this is essential, because tweets can be deleted, ruining an annotation.

@AlexTR

I agree for the most part, but if the picture needs a short explanation, I believe there is a great way to get around this: After the image code, type out your explanation, but make it look like a caption:

This isn’t used as often as I think it should or could be used. Placing a small caption under an image can really give it meaning without ruining the flow of the annotation, and sometimes it’s essential, it saves you have to explain context in the annotation itself.

@Wapunguissa : Now that Ben drew more attention to that gif on that tate, I’m looking at it and yeah, that’s one of the best uses of a gif I’ve seen on here tbh. I see a lot of needless gifs in annotations, sometimes it takes away from the point and makes the whole thing look too cartoonish or just plain annoying, like a pop-up advertisement. The gif you used is not only very classy and actually beautiful in a way, it adds so much to the annotation.

I completely cosign @Theonlydjorkaeff on his thoughts that visuals should only be used when they serve a purpose. He taught me that when he coached me and I’ve been using that lesson ever since. I now teach that to my own coachees :)

One thing I noticed about the “Famous” annotation: When screenshots are used as “proof,” like Taylor’s Instagram response, I think the image should include the Instagram logo (or something else showing it’s legit) and perhaps a link to the post.